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Post subject: Vintage Basses and Skunk Stripes
Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:06 am
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Hey guys,
It's been a while since I've been on. I have a question. Why do some vintage precisions and jazz basses have the skunk stripe and others do not?

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Post subject: Re: Vintage Basses and Skunk Stripes
Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:57 pm
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miketallica315 wrote:
Hey guys,
It's been a while since I've been on. I have a question. Why do some vintage precisions and jazz basses have the skunk stripe and others do not?


Is that the little strip between the bridge pickup and bridge? I think thats the connector (copper strip) to wire the strings. I think.....................?

Some basses would just have different wiring. The others whould have a hole drilled through the body.

I'm just hypothesising. If anyone can set me straight, by any means do so.


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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 7:47 am
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I think he means the stripe on the back of the neck. The stripe was a walnut insert on the back of the neck for one peice maple necks. Of course rosewood or maple fingerboard laminated necks would not have this.

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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:32 pm
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walkbassman45 wrote:
I think he means the stripe on the back of the neck. The stripe was a walnut insert on the back of the neck for one peice maple necks. Of course rosewood or maple fingerboard laminated necks would not have this.


That's my understanding too.


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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:09 pm
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The dark stripe on the back of the neck, known as the 'skunk stripe', was originally to fill up the hole through which the truss rod was fitted. As the necks were made of one piece maple, including the fingerboard, there was no other way of getting into the neck. The wood itself adds nothing structurally...it just closes the hole.

Fender stopped using a skunk stripe between 1960 and around 65, when they introduced rosewood fingerboards. As the truss rod could now be loaded from under the fingerboard, they abandoned the stripe.

Fender restarted maple finger boards, and reintroduced the skunk stripe in, I think, the late 60s. As the stripe had now become part of the Fender image, they left it in, even on rosewood fingerboard necks.

In the past decade, Fender started producing graphite reinforced bass necks. There is no room in these necks to include the reinforcement AND the skunk stripe, so the stripe goes. If you have a look at the recent American Deluxes, and Standards, you will notice no skunk stripe. You will also notice that even the maple fingerboard necks are two part...neck and separate fingerboard.

If you look at the non graphite reinforced vintage series basses, you'll see they still have skunk stripes.

(From another site, by a guy named Andy.)


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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:59 pm
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Great info rufus mangler.


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